Recommendations 101

Many colleges require at least one recommendation letter from either your school counselor or a teacher. Some colleges even require a counselor letter, plus one – or two – teacher recommendations.

Your recommendations should ideally come from teachers who taught you in 11th or 12th grade in core academic subject areas (English, social studies, math, science, foreign language). Among these, pick a teacher who has seen your best work and can speak to your academic abilities.

Once you’ve figured out who will be writing on your behalf, it’ll be time to invite each recommender online (this is possible if you’re using the Common App and some institutional applications) or to gather and complete paper forms. Check with each recommender to see if they prefer to submit electronically or on paper.

Since your applications won’t be complete without all required recommendations, be sure to confirm that the required letters are received by each school. And then, once all is complete, be sure to send a thank you note to each of your recommenders!